Battle of Dak To

The Battle of Dak To was a major battle of the Vietnam War which was fought from 3 to 23 November 1967.

In the fall of 1967, the North Vietnamese PAVN and the Viet Cong insurgents launched a series of "border battles" against the US and South Vietnamese ARVN forces to prepare for a surprise offensive for the Vietnamese Lunar New Year of Tet. In early November, reports reached MACV that 5 NVA regiments and a Viet Cong battalion (7,000 troops) had been massing in the Central Highlands around the US special forces camp of Dak To again. The communists' plan was to lure the Americans into the Central Highlands and destroy them. As the NVA deployed their troops, William Westmoreland sent his to Dak To, exactly what the NVA wanted him to do. The elite US 173rd Airborne Division was among those sent in to clear the area of the North Vietnamese. The 174th NVA Regiment under Nguyen Thanh Son dug in on Hill 875, the high ground which the Americans were sure to covet. On 19 November 1967, Alpha, Charlie, and Delta Companies were ordered to take the hill. Heavy artillery and flights of F-100s blasted the hillside ahead of them, meant to knock out enemy positions before the paratroopers got within range; all of the trees on the hill were destroyed, but the NVA were safe in their bunkers. The paratroopers stepped into a clearing 300 yards from the summit, eventually coming within five meters of the NVA trenches. Charlie and Delta Companies, the advance guard, were then ambushed by Chinese-made grenades and assault rifle fire, and they were pinned down and torn to pieces. Meanwhile, Alpha Company, the American rear, was ambushed by more NVA troops. The company commanders and most of the officers and NCOs were killed, and the survivors clustered in the clearing and set up a defensive circle. American bombs and napalm pounded enemy positions until darkness set in, and most of the NVA position was completely burned out. 42 Americans were accidentally killed by a misplaced US bomb, and a US lieutenant called off any further air support. Helicopters that tried to ferry in supplies to the poorly-supplied troops were shot down. On 23 November, two fresh battalions of the 173rd finally made it to the hilltop, but the NVA had slipped away the night before, retreating into Cambodia and Laos. After one of the bloodiest and hardest-fought battles of the war, 361 Americans were dead. The North Vietnamese suffered staggering losses, but the US victory was useless, as they were taken off of the hill by Chinook helicopters shortly after, never to return.